Taiwan Trip #2

Last Saturday a coworker and I left Kansas City bound for Taiwan.  We were heading to the Garmin office in Taipei to conduct training for the cartography team in Taiwan.  My job was to present the project, meet with their management staff, and help get the training set up.  Gavin's job was to train the cartographers to do the same kind of work that we do here in the states.  I was only staying 4 days, but Gavin is going be there for a whole month.   

Getting ready to leave from LAX.  13hrs one way!

View from our hotel





Dinner the first night was at a Japanese restaurant named Dozo.  It was some amazing seafood.



After eating the shrimp above, they take the heads back to the kitchen and deep fry them, then they bring them back out.  I ate one. It tasted about like what you would expect.  :)



Me and the founding father of Taiwan

After dinner we walked a couple kilometers to Taipei 101.  I was looking forward to going to the top because I didn't get to on my trip last summer.

Taipei 101 Robot

101 is at least 2-3 times taller than anything else in the city.  It was the first building in the world to crack the 500m (half a kilometer) mark.

The elevators had to be aerodymanically designed.  It only takes 90 seconds to get to the top!

This damper at the top counteracts the effects of wind and earthquakes.

Me and the 101 Damper Robot

There is a pretty amazing coral art shop at the top as well.

Look at the detail on this thing!

The second night we went out to eat at a Taiwanese BBQ restaurant.  It was probably my favorite meal of the trip.

I had a cold when I left and it turned into a sinus infection, so feeling miserable, I asked to go see the doctor on Wednesday morning.  Thankfully one of the guys went with me and I came back with a lot of pills..  6 pills at breakfast and dinner and then another 2 at bedtime.

Teppanyaki on Wednesday night.  The food was incredible!

I ate my first oyster.  Not my favorite thing.

The mango slush for desert was probably the best slush I've ever had.

Here's the team!

Everyone has temporarily moved into a conference room for training.

The teacher hard at work.  The cartographers don't speak english but they do understand some of it.  Luck for us, Nelson, one of the engineers speaks good english and helps translate tough concepts to the team.

Going away lunch on Thursday was a ton of Sushi. 

It was beautiful.  Some was pretty good, some was not.  The ones on the top right that look chicken wings are eel.  I ate one and it was pretty good.

Time to head home.  Chilling with my new favorite Asian (Japanese to be precise) beer.

The plane ride home was pretty uneventful.  I slept 4 or 5 hours, cleared customs, and caught my SW flight back to KC.  I got home about 2AM and slept until noon today.  I'll miss everyone that we've been working with.  They are all really great people and it's been a lot of fun building up our relationship. 

It's great to be home!

Ryan